Shaping the Future - Supplementary Material
by CharmedArtist
Summary: Oneshots continuing my long fic, Shaping the Future. Can be read without knowing the main plotline, though some things may take you by surprise if you don't know the background! (Won't focus only on Harry and Severus. Look forward to Luna, Hermione, Remus, Amelia, Draco, and house elves!)
1. The Ministry Ball

"You look beautiful," Harry smiled at his date, the warmth in his gaze visible to anyone with eyes. Luna Lovegood had very keen eyesight, in her opinion, and beamed back at him as she accepted his proffered arm.

"You look quite beautiful yourself," she returned the compliment happily, and Harry swept her off to the Ministry Ball with a happy smile.

They had barely stepped foot in the Atrium when Luna tugged gently at Harry's arm, pointing off to one side. He didn't question it and smoothly changed direction, coming to a stop a few steps away from one of the oversized fireplaces. Luna hummed a little tune under her breath, and a moment later the hearth flared green and Severus Snape stepped out with Hermione Granger on his arm.

"Miss Lovegood; Mister Potter," the Potions Master promptly greeted them with a respectful bow.

"Hey," Harry grinned, striding up to give Hermione a one-armed hug while Luna gave Severus the same. "Or should I say: Good evening, Miss Granger; Mister Snape."

"I prefer Hermione and Severus," Luna said pleasantly, and Hermione's eyes crinkled in a smile.

"It's been a while, Luna," the young woman said, and Luna hummed her agreement, opening her tiny bag and pulling out a huge tome. Hermione squealed in excitement, all four of them ignoring the staring bystanders, and accepted the tome with visible delight.

"Oh, thank you! I've been looking everywhere for this!" The tome was inspected with covetous eyes and a huge grin before Hermione carefully slipped it into her own tiny bag.

Luna just smiled vaguely. "I know."

Severus gave the blonde an amused smile before gesturing towards the end of the Atrium, and the Ministry Ball. "Shall we?"

"Let's shall," Luna agreed, and the four friends set out rather cheerfully for the formal event.

Harry sighed inwardly at the way the entire hall fell silent when they stepped in the room, but Severus smoothly stepped in front of him, shielding him from most of the stares, and a soft smile tugged at Harry's lips. His date leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Sometimes I wonder how you can see anything through all the Kimdingers surrounding you," and Harry led her to their table with a surprised laugh.

"Rose-tinted glasses?" he suggested, and Luna's tinkling laugh rang out high and clear. Severus cast them an amused smirk over his shoulder – trust the former spy to have heard their quiet exchange.

"My lady," Severus pulled out Hermione's chair for her, and the young woman blushed slightly as she took a seat. Luna did the same for Harry, making him laugh again.

Then Minister Bones strode to the podium at the front of the hall and, with a small amount of ceremony, declared the Ministry Ball opened. Sirius Black strode to her side and handed his wife a flute of champagne, leading the first toast of the evening. Luna dreamily ignored her glass, busy inspecting something invisible on the tablecloth, but Severus seemed impressed by the champagne after he took a sip, so Harry supposed it was a good one. Hermione seemed just as ignorant as he, and they traded a tiny shrug as they took the obligatory sip.

"Having fun?" Harry asked Amelia later as he and Sirius switched partners on the dance floor, Luna easily gliding away with the former convict as Amelia led Harry across the floor. It was common knowledge that Harry was rather the opposite of a gifted dancer.

"Yes, actually," Amelia replied with a glint in her eye. "And I hear that you and your three companions are having a good time this year."

Harry laughed in response. "Oh, yes! Severus and I definitely chose the perfect witches to accompany us. Did you see the looks we got from the other attendees during dinner?"

Amelia quirked an eyebrow and a corner of her mouth. "I heard that you were discussing incomprehensible things," she said drily, and Harry laughed again.

"Oh, Luna and I were just discussing the regular things – our travels, mainly, though we spent a long time waxing lyrical over the familiar British weather," he grinned. "Severus and Hermione were discussing the newest magical theorems and discoveries in Potions and Herbology, of course – so, the usual, really. I don't know why everyone looked at us so oddly."

Amelia finally laughed at that, knowing from the mischievous glint in Harry's eye that he definitely didn't mean that. "Let me guess – you and Luna held the entire conversation substituting normal words for the names of her strange animals, while Severus and Hermione discussed complex things that generally only specialists of the field know the terms for?"

Harry just grinned in reply and winked at Sirius as they exchanged partners once more. "It was a pleasure, Amelia," he said cheekily as he spun Luna away. Once he'd settled back into the rhythm of leading the dance he asked, "Had a good conversation with Sirius, love?"

Luna nodded dreamily, reaching up to pick something out of Harry's hair. "The Plimplams only made a brief appearance during our dance; I think Severus really was right when he said that Kimdingers chase them away. Sirius is still susceptible to Wrackspurts in the middle of sentences, but yes, I had fun."

"Good," Harry smiled fondly at her. "No Thurbings disturbing him tonight?"

"No, he was a perfect gentleman," Luna said serenely.

"Good," Harry repeated, and they settled into comfortable silence for a time. "Say, where are Severus and Hermione?" He'd thought they'd stayed at their table, but couldn't see them.

Luna seemed to listen to the air for a minute before pulling out of his hold and leading him away by the hand. Harry followed without question, trusting Luna to know where she was going.

"You think you're so high and mighty-" they heard a blustering voice as they neared the door to the hall, and Harry's eyes narrowed. He didn't recognize the man's voice, but if Luna was steering them in that direction, then either Severus or Hermione were involved – or most likely both of them.

"I hardly think it's any concern of yours," Hermione's voice said stiffly, and Harry sighed. Some self-important idiot had probably drunk too much and thought confronting her would be a good idea. Harry just hoped he got there before Severus cursed the man for insulting his date.

More raised voices, and Luna led Harry around the corner just as Severus's smooth voice interjected, "Be that as it may, the lady clearly does not wish to discuss it in this venue. If you will excuse us – I am sure our companions are missing us."

"Quite right," Harry chimed in with a polite smile. "We were wondering where you'd gotten off to. Excuse us, gentlemen," he said, nodding to the red-faced men crowding his friends.

"They're surrounded by Thurbings," Luna whispered to Harry, and his hand tightened on hers.

"Now see here-" one of the men began with an aggressive step towards Hermione, and a second later the three men lay stunned on the floor.

"Let's just leave them over here, shall we?" Harry asked pleasantly, using his already drawn wand to levitate the three men over to the wall; Severus slipped his wand back into its holster and offered Hermione his arm, leading her away from the unconscious men.

"Excellent timing, Luna," the Potions Master complimented the young woman who smiled up at him.

"Oh, it was all the Lump-legged Urgle," the blonde said modestly, and Harry shot her a slightly alarmed look.

"A Lump-legged Urgle?" The look he turned on the unconscious men was decidedly less friendly than before. "Maybe I'll just tie them up for good measure," he muttered, magical ropes flying out of his wand to bind the three men securely. Tucking away his wand, he placed Luna's arm in his and nodded to the other couple. "Shall we?"

"Let's shall," Severus deadpanned, but Luna beamed up at the tall man for using the phrase she had coined. "No doubt they will be missing our presence in the hall."

"No doubt," Hermione snorted, adjusting the strap of her dress as they made their way back into the hall. "Did we miss anything while we were gone?"

"Nah," Harry reassured her. "Everyone thinks we're more than a bit daft for our dinner conversation, but that's just the usual, and Luna says that Sirius is doing better."

"Is he?" Hermione's look was pleased, and Luna nodded absently. "Well, that's good, then."

The rest of the ball passed without anything of note happening, though they got more strange looks when Severus had just as cryptic a conversation with Luna as Harry had enjoyed during dinner. Harry and Hermione shared a smirk at that and discussed more normal topics like their friends and current laws being proposed. They were just discussing the current situation with house elf rights when Hermione's mood turned melancholy.

"I miss Kerrilee sometimes," Hermione confessed softly, and Harry reached out to cover her hand with his.

"I know, love," he said just as softly. Kerrilee had assumed a special place in Hermione's life, the elderly house elf having worked together with Hermione to write a book on the culture and customs of house elves, but after the book went to print and sold far better than anyone had anticipated the old elf passed away. It had been expected, but Hermione had grown quite close to the prickly elf during their unusual partnership.

"I'm sure she'd be pleased to know that the book is being translated into other languages, though," Harry said warmly, and Hermione smiled proudly, wiping away a bit of moisture from her eyes.

"She would be," she agreed, and by unspoken consent they turned the topic to other house elves they knew. Beside them Luna and Severus turned back to their own conversation, neither of them at all embarrassed for having listened in on their dates' conversation.

At the end of the night the two men escorted their dates home, and both young women gave their dates the same message: "Give Harry/Severus my love," and a kiss on the cheek. "Of course," both men agreed, dropping a kiss to the women's hand and taking their leave.

Apparating home, Harry smiled at Severus. "Luna sends her love," he said, drawing closer, and Severus bent to give him a kiss.

"So does Hermione."

Kimdingers – small creatures that represent love  
Plimplams – flying bugs attracted by negative thoughts  
Wrackspurts – confuse humans  
Thurbings – visual representations of anger or aggression  
Lump-legged Urgles - one-legged bison with big ears and small lungs that warn of a violent situation


	2. Draco Black goes Muggle

"Thank you; have a good day," the white-blond nodded at the woman across from him as she picked up her bag and vacated his counter at the electronics store.

"Good day," Draco Black, formerly Malfoy, greeted the next customer and started ringing up the balding man's items. "That will be ₤574,97, sir."

Finishing his shift, Draco rang up a small purchase of his own – the cheapest mobile phone in the store. Subtracting the employee's discount from the price, he paid the exact sum into the cashier and pocketed his purchase, making his way out the back of the store. Once in the alley outside he stretched for a moment before spinning on his heel and apparating home.

"I'm home," he called out as he strode through Black Manor, and a myriad of voices welcomed him home, some of the younger children running up to give him a hug. He wasn't the only graduated student still living at the orphanage, but all the Hogwarts students were at the school. Astoria had written asking him to send her another mobile phone, and he went straight to his room to do so – he knew perfectly well that she had talked him into taking the job at the Muggle store so that she could take advantage of his employee discount, but though it was a boring job it paid alright and made his girlfriend happy, so he wasn't about to complain. It was only a part-time job, anyhow; the majority of his time was spent working on his Charms mastery.

Jotting a quick letter to his girlfriend, Draco wrapped the packet and sent both to Hogwarts with his tawny owl, wondering whether he shouldn't just buy a larger number of the phones and send them all to her at once. The younger Greengrass had decided that she would figure out how to make Muggle electronics work around magic, and when the girl got something into her head she'd keep at it until she reached a conclusion that satisfied her, so Draco just stood aside and supported her in her endeavor.

Changing briskly into basic robes, the former scion of the Malfoy family made his way to the single room he kept carefully warded from the children. He was nearly done his Charms mastery and was creating an original spell as part of his Master thesis, but it was difficult going. He had sped through the rest of his studies, focused on his goal to achieve his Mastery in two years, and he only had a month left until Astoria graduated from Hogwarts. He wanted to be able to propose to her as a Charms Master, and he was determined that he wouldn't fail in the task he had set himself.

If anyone had asked him two years ago why he was so determined in this, he might have told them that he saw no point in wasting his time taking longer than the minimum required time to do something, but he knew that it was to prove himself. Not just to others, but also to himself.

He'd like to think that he'd grown up in the last four years, and he knew that he had to thank Harry Potter-Black for it. He didn't think he'd ever like the man who'd killed his father, but he couldn't deny that the changes wrought to his life had forced him to grow up and question things, even things his own parents had taught him. The Muggle world was more diverse and awe-inspiring than he had ever considered possible; they were a far cry from the barbarians his father had always described them as being! It had taken him a long time to come to grips with that – he had adored his father, and then it had seemed that the man had been wrong about something so huge... It had made Draco wonder what else Lucius Malfoy had been wrong about. Such as blood purity – his father had claimed the superiority of pure blood just as often as he had claimed wizard's superiority to Muggles, so if the one was wrong... then perhaps the other was as well?

That question had plagued Draco for months before he had given in and admitted, first only to himself, then to others, that purebloods weren't superior to other witches and wizards, or even to Muggles. It was only then that Astoria Greengrass, who had immediately been fascinated by their lessons about Muggles, had begun to show an interest in him, and when they'd started dating Draco had decided he would do his best by her. Thus why he was working part-time in a Muggle shop and trying to achieve his Mastery at the same time.

Flicking his wand, he tried the modified incantation his research had suggested would work best paired with the wand movement he had come up with after months of study, and the thrill of potential success coursed through him when nothing happened. So far, each time he'd attempted his charm something had exploded, and this time the foot stool in the middle of the room remained whole and unblemished.

Quivering with suppressed excitement, Draco ran to his room and grabbed the two cheap mobile phones he knew worked perfectly well in the Muggle world but malfunctioned whenever they were turned on at the manor; now he took them with him and raced back to his warded room, slamming the door closed and placing the phones on the stool in the middle of the room. Hands quivering slightly, he carefully turned one of the phones on – and whooped when it didn't immediately die on him. Turning on the other one, he sent a message from the one phone to the other – and abandoned the phones on the stool with a triumphant shriek when the chime of a delivered message rang out in the room.

Grinning like a fool, Draco carefully picked up one of the phones, moving it slowly away from the stool until, after roughly two meters, it suddenly died. His grin undiminished, Draco had the still functioning phone send a message to the now dead phone and rushed out, grabbing the phone charger from his room and dashing out of the manor. Apparating to his workplace, he stopped briefly to compose himself, hurriedly charmed his clothing to look like Muggle garments, and went in to find a power socket.

Once the phone was charging he impatiently waited for a few minutes before attempting to turn it on – he had found that this type of battery, at least, tended to empty itself immediately upon contact with magic, but that it wouldn't get completely fried – and punched the air several times in repressed excitement when the message from the other phone was delivered.

"Got a date?" an amused voice asked, and Draco jerked around to see one of his coworkers smirking at him from the doorway.

Blushing in mortification at having been seen losing his composure, Draco snapped, "I have a steady girlfriend, Kempton. No, it's – a deal I've been working on just went through."

The other student's eyebrows rose and he asked skeptically, "Oh? On a house?"

"An apartment," Draco agreed easily, though with an undercurrent of annoyance. "You know how hard it is to get something good in London."

"Well, you're bloody well right there," Mark Kempton agreed fervently, and Draco stifled a sigh at the classless language. It was in these cases that Draco still thought he was superior, though that was more a matter of upbringing than blood status or magical capabilities.

"Anyway," Draco said, grabbing his phone and charger, "charming though this conversation is, that's my cue to leave. I'll see you tomorrow, Kempton."

"Yeah, see you," the young man agreed, walking back into the store area with a lazy wave. Draco sneered slightly – he couldn't stand that coworker – and left, heading straight for the manor and his room. Flopping down on his bed, he lay still for a moment before a large grin spread over his face and he sprung back up. He had to write Astoria about this.


	3. Draco and Astoria

"So if we could just bind the charm to the phone with a set of runes, it should function like a small magic-impervious bubble and shield the object," Draco said, running through his calculations again. "The problem is that magic can't be cast within the active space of the charm, so I have to figure out how to get the area just large enough to cover the device, but not the surrounding space."

"I'm sure the Aurors will want that charm, though," Astoria mused, poring over her own notes. "So far they're only able to put magic-suppressant charms on handcuffs and cells, and they'd pay to be able to make their cells spaces where magic can't be cast at all. Make sure you sell for a high price."

"Of course," Draco agreed, knowing he'd have to discuss with his instructor how best to go about it. His Master thesis was on this spell, after all, so his paper on the creation of the spell was going to be published as a matter of course, and then the spell would be common knowledge. This spell could be classed as a restricted one, though, since it could incapacitate a wizard if cast on a big enough space, and then there was perhaps the option of only Charms Masters being allowed to cast it – in which case Draco could make the Ministry pay him to cast the spell on their cells.

But first he and Astoria needed to figure out how to ground the spell. It wasn't like the Fidelius Charm, which was practically impenetrable, but rather a regular charm that could be dispelled with a simple Finite. That was a good thing for his Mastery, as he certainly didn't want the spell classed as a dangerous one, but created difficulties when you wanted to take advantage of the spell for electronics.

"This is brilliant, though," Astoria told him, not for the first time, and Draco felt the glow of pride. "The spell can be cast easily anywhere, anytime, and dispelled just as easily! The Ministry can't complain about it being dangerous, either, because someone inside the spell can still use a Finite on it – how does that work, anyway? – but once we figure out how to anchor it and make it permanent the Ministry will be more than happy to take advantage of it for their cells." She looked up, pride in her eyes for her fiancé's accomplishment. "Brilliant, Draco."

Waving off the praise though he knew he wasn't fooling his fiancée one bit, Draco turned back to figuring out how to change the size of the spell's active space. If they could figure this out, they could make a killing off modified Muggle electronics – the Quidditch market alone would make them rich, what with the items needed to record matches live and broadcast them to the television sets they would also have to modify to work in a magical household. Phones, computers, music players… From his job at the electronics store Draco had learned how to the small shop got permission to sell branded electronics, and they could simply do the same thing – sell on electronics just like one of those stores, except modified to work for witches and wizards.

Casting a passionate look at his fiancée that she didn't see, Draco lowered his head to his calculations. They first had to figure out how to do it.


End file.
